2016

By

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11/08/2016

Introduction Segment: Video Promo and Welcoming

The regular Smackdown! Live opener plays and the pyro explodes in the arena of Glasgow, Scotland! Mauro Ranallo greets us, and announces that the Women’s Championship Match between Alexa Bliss and Champion Becky Lynch will be our main-event!

Segment #2: Arena Promo

WWE World Champion A.J. Styles is out first, and does not look happy, not even with the fans cheering or booing for him. This is because of his loss to Dean Ambrose last week, which propelled “The Lunatic Fringe” to facing Styles again at the T.L.C. Pay-Per-View on December 4th. A.J. blames James Ellsworth for causing this to happen, and then says that Commissioner Shane McMahon and General Manager Daniel Bryan have ceased Ambrose and Styles going at it beforehand, because of Survivor Series.

A.J. puts himself as the captain of Team Smackdown!, but his partner for the match at Survivor Series, Baron Corbin, marches out. Corbin insinuates that Styles is not the Captain, and then The Wyatt Family – Randy Orton included – appear in the aisle. They walk around the ring and hop the apron, and then Dean Ambrose joins, who brings James Ellsworth with him.

Dean brought Ellsworth as his “guest,” but Styles is quite dismayed with James. He wants Ellsworth to stay away at Survivor Series, and warns Ambrose and James that they’re “outnumbered.” Baron suddenly walks away, but Commissioner Shane McMahon interrupts. He wants everyone to be cohesive for Smackdown!, and makes James the “mascot” for Team Smackdown!

Commercials.

Segment #3: Backstage Promo

Shane talks with Baron about leaving Team Smackdown! He elects to change up Baron’s match for tonight, now making him face Kalisto, whom Baron injured a while back.

Match #1: Tag-Team – The Vaudevillians (Simon Gotch and Aiden English) VS. Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango)

(Stipulation: The winners will be the final Team on Team Smackdown! for Survivor Series.)

They go back-and-forth a little, but Fandango plants Aiden with a Falcon-Arrow Suplex and covers for the quick victory!

Winners and ADVANCING to Survivor Series: Breezango

Ads.

Match #2: Single – Natalya VS. Naomi

(Note: Nikki Bella is on commentary.)

Naomi rolls-up Natalya for a quick=count, but Nattie kicks out and slams Naomi to the canvas. She locks on a surfboard-stretch. Both collide and Carmela charges out. She and Nikki face-off, and Natalya gets in between them, but is knocked down. Bella hits Carmela, and then Naomi small-packages Nattie in the ring for the 1 – 2 – 3!

Winner via Pinfall: Naomi

Commercials.

Segment #4: Backstage Promo

Dean Ambrose and James Ellsworth are discussing their partnership; General Manager Daniel Bryan walks in and informs them of the switch with Baron Corbin. He has found another wrestle though – Kane! “The Big Red Machine” warns James “don’t tag in.”

Match #3: Single – Baron Corbin VS. Kalisto

Baron assaults Kalisto right away but then slips on the apron and buggers his knee. Kalisto dropkicks Corbin’s knee into the steel steps and then frogsplashes onto him as referees checked on Baron.

Winner: None due to No Official Start

Segment #5: Video Promo

The history between Alexa Bliss and Women’s Champion Becky Lynch is shown.

Alexa Bliss makes her entrance, and the match is up next!

Ads.

Segment #6: Office Promo

Bryan and McMahon need to figure out who can replace Baron Corbin on Team Smackdown!

Match #4: Single for the Women’s Championship – Alexa Bliss (Challenger) VS. Becky Lynch (Champion)

They lockup and then trade pin-combos. Becky armdrags Alexa and then dropkicks her, but misses a run in the corner and eats the post shoulder-first. Alexa focuses on Lynch’s shoulder, slamming it on the floor mats and then clamping on a submission. Bliss trips Becky into the corner and then slams her arm against the post and apron. She pulls at it with the middle rope and continues to works it over. Lynch reverses an arm hold into a roll-up and then a sit-down powerbomb!

Commercials.

Alexa is still in control but Becky fires back up. They both slug away with forearms, and Becky gets the better. She whips Bliss into the corner, but Alexa springs off into a sunset flip for two! Bliss climbs the turnbuckle, but the Women’s Champion trips her up. Becky climbs too, but Alexa forearms away and goes for a Tornado-DDT! Lynch stops it but Alexa still manages to DDT her.

They trade O’Connor rolls, and then Becky clutches on her Disarmer submission! Bliss tries to work out of it and even puts her feet on the bottom rope, but the referee doesn’t see that, and instead only sees Alexa tapping!

Winner via Submission and STILL Women’s Champion: Becky Lynch

Segment #7: Office Promo

Shane declares that “the referee’s decision stands,” They continue to talk about Survivor Series when The Miz and Maryse walk up. Maryse berates the men-in-charge for their treatment of Miz; Bryan goats Miz into challenging Dolph Ziggler for the Intercontinental Championship next week on Smackdown!. He also says that Raw Cruiserweight Champion Brian Kendrick will defend that title against Kalisto, and if Kalisto wins, the Cruiserweight Championship and Division will move to Smackdown!

Ads.

Match #5: Single – Curt Hawkins VS. Apollo Crews

Hawkins surprisingly picks this one up fairly-fast with an Oklahoma Roll!

Winner via Pinfall: Curt Hawkins

Commercials.

Match #5: Six-Man Tag-Team – The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, and Randy Orton) VS. Kane, James Ellsworth, and Dean Ambrose

(Note: WWE World Champion A.J. Styles is on commentary.)

Kane and Harper begin with an elbow/collar tie-up. Kane wristlocks Luke and then whips him off of the rope. Harper hits back with a kick but is slammed down. Both tag out to Ambrose and Wyatt, respectively. Bray takes control after Luke hits Dean from behind with a knee; Wyatt then switches with Orton, who clotheslines and stomps away on Ambrose. Kane makes a short comeback but Orton and Bray take over.

Ads.

Harper is still dominating Kane with a grounding rear-chinlock and a big dropkick. Randy is back in and pounds away on Kane’s chest. “The Big Red Machine” eventually makes the hot-tag to Dean, who cleans house on Bray, Randy, and Luke. In the ring, Bray and Dean double-clothesline each other. Ellsworth contemplates, but then decides to tag himself in. He goes for “No-Chin Music” superkick, but lands right into a Sister Abigail by Wyatt, who subsequently covers for the victory!

Winners via Pinfall: The Wyatt Family

Post-match, The Wyatt Family surround Dean but McMahon hurries out. GM Bryan is next and announces that the last member of Team Smackdown! is ….

Shane McMahon!

Everyone celebrates to close the show.

End of Smackdown! Live.

Will WWE Hall of Famer Donald Trump be elected U.S. President tonight?

By

Colin Vassallo

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11/08/2016

A WWE Hall of Famer as President of the United States? It can happen today! Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will be hoping that by the night is over, he will be elected President, something that last year everyone thought it would be impossible.

Trump clinched the nomination in July, 13 months after he started his long campaign, getting rid of his 16 rivals one by one. His introduction and appearance at the RNC in Cleveland, Ohio in July was nothing short of a WWE Superstar entrance and the Internet immediately started creating memes of his entrance set to The Undertaker’s theme song. Trump revealed in an interview afterward that Vince McMahon called him to tell him that that was a “very, very good entrance!”

The former reality TV host has been a long time friend of the McMahon family and he hosted WrestleMania IV and WrestleMania V at the Trump Plaza in 1988 and 1989. He appeared ringside as well at WrestleMania VII and WrestleMania X, where he was interviewed by Jesse Ventura.

He was involved in one of the most high-profile matches at a WrestleMania where he and Vince McMahon put their hair on the line as Bobby Lashley and Umaga fought for them. Umaga eventually lost and McMahon ended up getting his hair shaved by Trump, Lashley, and Austin who was the referee. Austin then delivered the Stunner to Trump.

In 2009 WWE also pulled a big stunt by “selling” Raw to Trump. The whole thing was part of a storyline which investors did not “get” and it had to be scrapped after WWE stocks tanked. Trump was “in charge” of Raw for one week, making it commercial free.

Trump was inducted into the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2013 with Vince McMahon doing the honors for him. That year the show was held at Madison Square Garden in New York, his home state, but the New York – and International – crowd was pretty vicious to him, booing him every time he spoke.

His WWE association came to haunt him last week as Yahoo! News uncovered footage from WrestleMania VII where he was sitting next to Robert LiButti, a high-stakes gambler who was banned from New Jersey casinos for alleged ties to organized crime, and who Trump always denied of knowing.

In mid-October it was reported that former WWE CEO Linda McMahon donated $6 million in August and September to a super PAC supporting Trump.

Kurt Angle welcomes baby number five!

By

Colin Vassallo

-

11/08/2016

Former WWE and TNA champion Kurt Angle welcomed baby number five to the family, a 9lbs 1oz daughter named Nikoletta Sky.

This is the third baby from his second marriage to Giovanna Yannotti. Their first child together was born in January 2011, named Giuliana, and the next one came in December 2012, named Sophia. He has two other kids from his first marriage to Karen, Kyra and Kody.

His first wife, Karen, is now married to Jeff Jarrett.

Team Raw for the Survivor Series is complete

By

Colin Vassallo

-

11/08/2016

The three teams that will represent Raw at the Survivor Series were completed yesterday during the show from Glasgow, Scotland.

Seth Rollins was the final man announced for the male 5-on-5 match and he joins WWE Universal champion Kevin Owens, WWE United States champion Roman Reigns, Chris Jericho, and Braun Strowman.

Former WWE Raw Women’s champion Sasha Banks also joined the female Raw team, and is now tagging along with Nia Jax, Bayley, Alicia Fox, and WWE Raw Women’s champion Charlotte.

The five tag teams that will be part of the massive 20-men match are the WWE Raw Tag Team champions The New Day, Enzo Amore and Big Cass, Sheamus and Cesaro, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, and The Shining Stars.

Sami Zayn will also be challenging Dolph Ziggler for the Intercontinental title on the show after successfully defeating Rusev to get his shot.

Monday Night Raw TV report for 11/07/2016

By

W-O Staff

-

11/08/2016

Introduction Segment: Video Promos and Welcoming

A recap of last week’s Raw with Universal Champion Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, United States Champion Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins is shown; the regular Raw video plays, and the pyro explodes in the arena of Glasgow, Scotland!

Segment #2: Arena Promo

Commissioner Stephanie McMahon starts off by saying that General Manager Mick Foley is not here but she gives him props. She then brings out the five wrestlers who are a part of Team Raw for Survivor Series – Universal Champion Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, United States Champion Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, and …..

Seth Rollins!

Owens disputes the last man, but Rollins fires back. Stephanie interjects and goes on a tirade about Raw needing to win, and insinuates they have to win to keep employment with Raw. Kevin and Chris try to convince Seth, Braun, and Roman that they are all on the same team but that Owens and Jericho themselves are “co-captains.”

Rollins concurs that he understands, and then slugs Jericho! All brawl, with Strowman standing tall in the ring after tackling Seth and slamming Chris! He hops off of the apron and stares at Reigns; Stephanie walks back out and announces a Fatal-Five-Way Match for tonight with all the Team Raw participants!

Later tonight, Tag-Team Champions The New Day will talk to their teammates for the Raw VS. Smackdown Tag-Team Match at Survivor Series. As well, Michael Cole will reveal the last two Women on their Survivor Series team.

Cruiserweight Champion Brian Kendrick is walking through the back, and he will be teaming with a new wrestler, next!

Commercials.

Match #1: Tag-Team – Sin Cara and Rich Swann VS. Cruiserweight Champion Brian Kendrick and Noam Dar

(Note: Noam is from Scotland and receives a huge ovation!)

Noam and Rich begin, shaking hands and then trading until Noam hits a high-dropkick in the corner! Swann pushes Dar into the corner and tags in Cara, who clotheslines (awkwardly) Noam over the ropes and then dives through the ropes onto Kendrick on the outside! Sin climbs the turnbuckle, but Brian pulls him off!

Ads.

Brian is ripping at Sin’s face and tags in Dar. Noam is back in control, backdropping Cara and wrenching Sin’s neck. Cara reverses a run into a roll-up with a powerbomb! Both make the tag, and it is Swann who controls. He clotheslines Kendrick a couple of times and then spin-kicks him, and hops on his back with double-boots. He rockets Brian off of the top turnbuckle with a hurricanrana and follows with a rolling-splash for a near-fall!

Sin tumbles Dar to the outside and then slingshot-sentons onto him! In the ring, Rich runs and victory-rolls Kendrick to receive the victory!

Winners via Pinfall: Rich Swann and Sin Cara

Post-match, Kendrick rips Dar for losing, but Noam fights back and poses to delight his home-country fans.

Commercials.

Segment #3: Video Promo

The history between Goldberg and Brock Lesnar is recollected, mixed with new comments of them challenging each other and stating why.

Segment #4: Office Promo

Stephanie is talking on her cell-phone when Sami Zayn walks in. She is not pleased with him taking Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler’s challenge at Survivor Series; she says that Rusev should get that match instead, so she books them to wrestle tonight

Ads.

Enzo Amore, Big Cass, The Club, The Golden Truth, and Sheamus and Cesaro make their entrances.

Commercials.

Segment #5: Arena Promo

Enzo and Cass, Gallows and Anderson, Cesaro and Sheamus, and Goldust and Truth poke fun at each other until Tag-Team Champions The New Day join, dressed in Braveheart attire. They too rip on the teams, in particular Sheamus. Up next, New Day will take on Gallows and Anderson.

Ads.

Match #2: Tag-Team – The Club (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) VS. Tag-Team Champions The New Day (Big E. and Kofi Kingston) (with Tag-Team Champion/New Day member Xavier Woods) (Non-Title)

Kofi and Karl are going at it, with Kingston getting the better and then tagging in Big E. They both give Anderson the Unicorn Stampede in the corner, and then Big locks Karl in an abdominal stretch and smacks him. The Club reverse the momentum after a high-kick to Big, and corner him.

Big eventually manages the hot-tag and Kofi is all over Karl. This lasts for a bit until Gallows and Anderson get the better of Kingston; they plant him with their double-team finisher, The Magic Killer, to take this one!

Winners via Pinfall: The Club

Segment #6: Backstage Promo

Truth and Goldust are discussing the Tag-Team Match at Survivor Series when Truth says he traded their spot for a trip to Puerto Rico. Goldust really wants to wrestle at Survivor Series, so he goes in search of Primo and Epico to once-again change the plan!

Commercials.

Segment #7: Video Promo

Brock Lesnar’s side of facing Goldberg at Survivor Series airs.

Segment #8: Locker Room Promo

Owens and Jericho approach Braun Strowman in his locker room. Chris is not pleased with Mr. Strowman, but Kevin spins it around to put Braun over. Strowman says that he is “Team Braun.”

Ads.

Match #3: Tag-Team – The Golden Truth (Goldust and R-Truth) VS. The Shining Stars (Primo and Epico)

(Stipulation: Whoever wins is a part of Team Raw for Survivor Series.)

Primo and Epico pick this one up after Epico rolls up Goldust and places his feet on the ropes for leverage.

Winners and ADVANCING to Survivor Series: The Shining Stars

Commercials.

Segment #9: Arena Promo

Michael Cole is in the ring and goes over the rules for Survivor Series, and then introduces the Women’s Team for Survivor Series. Women’s Champion Charlotte is out first, followed by Nia Jax, Alicia Fox, Bayley, and Dana Brooke. However, Cole corrects Charlotte, and tells us the real fifth woman …

“The Boss” Sasha Banks!

She returns just over a week from her Hell In A Cell Match with Charlotte for the Women’s Championship. Charlotte says she never thought of Sasha because of her potential injuries from Hell In The Cell; Sasha and Nia get in each others faces!

Ads.

Match #4: Six-Women Tag-Team – Women’s Champion Charlotte, Nia Jax, and Dana Brooke VS. Alicia Fox, Bayley, and Sasha Banks

Nia and Bayley begin with Nia shoving Bayley to the canvas. They lockup, and Bayley climbs the turnbuckle to break the elbow/collar tie-up. She kicks a couple of times, but Jax chucks her away. Bayley switches with Fox, who wrestles with Nia.

Commercials.

Sasha and Charlotte are wrestling, with Charlotte dominating. Nia hurls Alicia into the corner and then splashes her. Charlotte runs with a boot but Sasha moves and she hits Jax! Bayley spins Charlotte around and slams her down with her Bayley-to-Belly suplex! She covers and gets the 1 – 2 – 3!

Winners via Pinfall: Alicia Fox, Bayley, and Sasha Banks

Segment #10: Backstage Promo

Seth Rollins is interviewed until Braun Strowman walks up. He threatens Rollins about the Fatal-Five-Way.

Ads.

Match #5: Single – Rusev (with Lana) VS. Sami Zayn

(Stipulation: Whomever wins wrestles Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler for the title at Survivor Series.)

Rusev runs at Sami right away and stomps at him in the corner. He punishes Zayn early-on, and slingshots him against the middle rope. 1 – 2 – Sami raises his shoulder! He tosses Zayn over the ropes, but Sami shoulders Rusev in the stomach, flips over, and hits a dropkick.

Commercials.

“The Bulgarian Brute” is governing again after a fall-away slam during the commercial. Both slug away now, but Sami begins a comeback after pulling the top rope down that sends Rusev tumbling; Zayn follows with an over-the-ropes senton! He soars back into the ring with a crossbody, but can only get two!

Sami tries a backdrop, but Rusev puts on the breaks. He kicks Zayn hard in the head, but can’t take this! Rusev runs at Sami in the corner, but Zayn moves. Sami goes for his Helluva Kick, but Rusev counters with a hard kick! 1 – 2 – Sami lifts his shoulder!

Rusev goes to the top turnbuckle, but Zayn counters with the Helluva Kick and then gets the W!

Winner via Pinfall and ADVANCING to Survivor Series: Sami Zayn

Ads.

Match #6: Fatal-Five-Way – Seth Rollins VS. Braun Strowman VS. Chris Jericho VS. Universal Champion Kevin Owens VS. United States Champion Roman Reigns (Non-Titles)

Jericho and Owens attack Rollins right away, leaving Braun and Roman to glare at each other. Chris and Kevin come back in and try to convince Braun, but Strowman hits Jericho down. Owens rolls out of the ring, and then Roman punches. He runs and ducks, but then eats a clothesline after-all.

Strowman goes after Rollins, who counters with a bunch of Kendo Stick whacks. Seth retrieves a table from under the ring, but Braun runs over Rollins before Seth can do something with the table.

Commercials.

Braun is still dominating over everyone until they all manage to team-up against him with kicks and knees. Reigns hits the Superman Punch to Strowman, and then he and Seth battle Owens and Jericho. Roman and Rollins stare at each other until Braun climbs back on the apron but eats another Superman Punch! Rollins follows with a dive-through-the-ropes! He and Reigns continue to double-team Strowman on the outside, and they want to go for a double-powerbomb through the table, but Jericho and Owens stop it.

They double-up on Reigns for a bit, but can’t quite do it with Rollins. He counters and then powerbombs Chris onto Braun through the table! In the ring, Kevin goes for his Pop-Up Powerbomb but Seth reverses into The Pedigree! 1 – 2 – Jericho yanked the referee out. Rollins goes after Jericho, reversing the Walls of Jericho and enziguring him!

The Universal Champion kicks Seth after Rollins Pedigrees Jericho, and Roman flies in with the Superman Punch on Kevin, but Owens falls onto Jericho, unknowingly covering him for the victory!

Winner via Pinfall: Universal Champion Kevin Owens

Post-match, Owens and Jericho celebrate to close the show.

End of Raw.

Raw and Smackdown on tape delay this week from Scotland

By

Colin Vassallo

-

11/07/2016

Both Raw and Smackdown will be on a few hours tape delay tonight and tomorrow as the shows will be taped from Glasgow, Scotland.

This will be the first time that the shows will be held from The SSE Hydro in Scotland. The 13,000-seater arena is a frequent stop for WWE during the European tours but usually WWE opts to have television taped from London or Manchester. The next Raw and Smackdown from the UK will be in May from The O2 Arena in London.

WWE holds Raw and Smackdown in the United Kingdom twice a year, during their April and November tours.

Chris Jericho and Sin Cara in a fight on a bus to Glasgow

By

Colin Vassallo

-

11/07/2016

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is reporting that Chris Jericho and Sin Cara got into a fight while traveling from Leeds to Glasgow yesterday night.

Meltzer says that Sin Cara was making some kind of annoying noises on the bus and was told repeatedly by many to stop. He did not take the advice of anyone and then Jericho stepped up and “forcefully” told him to stop. This led to Sin Cara telling him to “f**k off” before he threw a right hand. The two then ended up fighting before others on the bus separated the two. Sin Cara was then ejected from the bus for his trouble.

The former tag team title holder will probably be subject to some disciplinary action by WWE although the company has not reacted publicly to the story yet.

The Twitter account for MLW used the hashtag #Y2JKOd to describe the incident and said that, “Hunico remains undefeated as WWE locker room refuses to accept this man as the baddest man on the planet.” Jericho, in reply, said that he hasn’t been knocked out since 1994 and called it “another example of shoddy, uninformed ‘journalism’ from the stupid idiots at @MLW.”

Is the Hulkster coming back? Daughter Brooke says yes!

By

Colin Vassallo

-

11/07/2016

A TMZ.COM paparazzo caught up with Brooke Hogan and asked if her dad would be returning to wrestling anytime soon.

“I’ll just say that…I know people have been calling him,” Brooke said. “For WrestleMania,” she then added when TMZ’s guy tried to get more information about her statement.

Hulk Hogan was fired from WWE in June 2015 after an audio tape filled with racial slur was released by the National Enquirer. Hogan, who was serving as a judge on Tough Enough, was immediately fired and removed from all mentions on WWE.COM as well as being removed from the list of WWE Hall of Famers. Before getting the pink slip, Hogan was telling the media that he was training for another match for WrestleMania 32.

There were rumors that Hogan would be back onboard after the whole lawsuit with Gawker ends. Hulk won that lawsuit and settled for $31 million in cash, a far cry from the original $145 million judgment.

Scott Hall misses booking, promoter asks for anyone to check on him

By

Colin Vassallo

-

11/06/2016

Jay Repsel, the DREAMWAVE Wrestling CEO, today posted a tweet saying that someone should check on Scott Hall as he missed his booking and never boarded the flight.

“Someone should check on Scott Hall. He is not returning calls or texts. Never boarded his flight yesterday and missed his DREAMWAVE booking,” Repsel wrote a few hours ago.

Hall was booked for the DREAMWAVE 100 celebration event yesterday in La Salle, Illinois along with Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash, Sean Waltman, Abyss, and Little Guido. Hall, who is active on Twitter, has not tweeted since November 3.

John Cena filming American Grit in Georgia, to return on December 26

By

Colin Vassallo

-

11/06/2016

Former WWE champion John Cena is currently in Hinesville, Georgia filming the second season of the FOX reality series American Grit.

The filming will take Cena out of WWE action for all of November and almost all of December as well and his first WWE appearance is set for the December 26 non-televised live WWE event at Madison Square Garden.

Cena was last seen on WWE television at No Mercy where he lost in the triple threat match against Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles. A rematch from No Mercy is expected to headline the MSG live event.

American Grit premiered on FOX on April 14, 2016 but failed to get any decent viewership and many thought the show would get axed since FOX always finished last in the ratings when the program was on. The first season of American Grit was filmed last year during this time as well.

WrestleMania makes it in Forbes Fab 40 Events top five

By

Colin Vassallo

-

11/06/2016

WWE’s WrestleMania made it in Forbes Fab 40 Events list, a list which was unsurprisingly topped by the NFL Super Bowl.

WrestleMania was placed in fifth with a brand value of $180 million, with WrestleMania 32 registering a 5.9% increase from the WrestleMania 31 event in Santa Clara.

The Super Bowl had a brand value of $630 million, and rounding the top five list were the Summer Olympics with $366 million, Winter Olympics with $285 million, and FIFA World Cup with $229 million.

Other notable events that WWE beat were the College Football Playoffs, College Basketball Final Four, MLB World Series, Daytona 500, UEFA Champions League and others.

WWE announces dates for May 2017 UK and Ireland tour

By

Colin Vassallo

-

11/05/2016

WWE announced the dates for their return to the United Kingdom and Ireland in May 2017 which will be a nine-day tour with a total of eight live events. Tickets for all the UK shows will go on sale on November 25 at 10AM GMT.

WWE usually holds their European tour in April a week after WrestleMania but it seems that the company will be shaking things up when it comes to touring next year.

The tour starts on Friday, May 5 at Dublin’s 3Arena in Ireland and then the next day it’s off to Northern Ireland for a live event in Belfast at the SSE Arena on Saturday, May 6.

The trip to England starts on Sunday, May 7 with a show at the Echo Arena in Liverpool. Monday Night Raw will be held at The O2 Arena in London on May 8 while the Smackdown brand will be at the Bournemouth International Center in Bournemouth on the same day as well.

Smackdown Live is also at The O2 Arena in London on Tuesday, May 9. Both Raw and Smackdown will air on a few hours tape delay that week. On Wednesday, May 10 there is one show at the Genting Arena in Birmingham. Sheffield gets its turn on Thursday, May 11 at the Sheffield Centre and Newcastle is the final stop on Friday, May 12 with a show at the Newcastle Metro Radio Arena.

WWE World Heavyweight title makes it on the Chicago Tribune sports front page

By

Colin Vassallo

-

11/05/2016

For the past few years, WWE has been sending replica titles to sports teams who win an NFL, NBA, NHL, or MLB championship.

These replica titles feature custom side plates with the logo of the winning team, and WWE ships them out in time so they can display or wear them during the celebrations.

And this year, for the Chicago Cubs, it was no different. After a 108-year wait, the Cubs finally won the World Series and Triple H immediately tweeted a photo of the WWE World Heavyweight title replica that was going their way.

24-year old Chicago Cubs player Kris Bryant seemed like he took over the title when it was delivered and was carrying it throughout the celebration, which made every television news in the United States.

And if you wonder why WWE even bothers to do this gesture, well, the front page of the Chicago Tribune sports section featured an almost full-page photo of Bryant with the WWE World Heavyweight title replica on his shoulder.

WWE always gets what they want out of this, and that’s free advertising!

Impact rating for 11/03/2016

By

Colin Vassallo

-

11/04/2016

This week’s Impact on POP was down slightly from last week, getting 359,000 viewers, a decrease of just 3,000 viewers. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

TNA Senior Director of Creative Writing David Lagana resigns

By

Colin Vassallo

-

11/04/2016

David Lagana, TNA’s Senior Director of Creative Writing, announced that he has resigned from his post, five years after deciding to join the company.

“Today I made the decision to leave TNA Impact Wrestling. A decision I do not make lightly but one I made to create a future that I control,” Lagana wrote in a blog post. “In 2017, you need to look forward to 2020 and beyond. My focus now is on personal branding, technology and the wild west of storytelling available to all content creators today.”

Lagana thanked everyone at TNA including the locker room and the “talented and under appreciated” television production crew for the opportunity but never mentioned Dixie Carter once.

He said that over the past fifteen years of writing, producing and directing, he’s been very lucky to work with every major talent and learn from its brightest minds. He name dropped Vince McMahon, Paul Heyman, Dusty Rhodes, Pat Patterson, Gerry Brisco, Shawn Michaels, Paul Levesque, Michael Hayes, Brian Gewirtz, Adam Pearce, Hunter Johnson, Matt Conway, Billy Corgan, Vince Russo, Eric Bischoff, Bruce Prichard, Jeff Jarrett, and Dutch Mantel.

Lagana worked for WWE for six years between 2002 and 2008.

Information on post-WrestleMania Raw and Smackdown ticket sales

By

Colin Vassallo

-

11/04/2016

WWE will be selling a combo package for Raw and Smackdown for after WrestleMania 33 through Ticketmaster.com, the first time that there’s an option to buy both shows at the same time.

The Raw and Smackdown package will go on sale to the general public on Monday, November 28 at 10AM EST. A pre-sale will probably happen a few days beforehand.

Those who are not staying for both shows or prefer to buy a ticket for one show only, separate tickets for both Raw and Smackdown at the Amway Center will go on sale to the general public on Friday, December 2 at 10AM EST.

Smackdown will take place in the same city where WrestleMania will be held for the first time ever as usually the show takes place in a different city or even different state. With Smackdown now airing live on USA Network, it made sense to try and attract the same crowd that makes the post-WrestleMania Raw the usual memorable one.

The post-Mania Raw is a hot ticket and often sells out immediately along with NXT.

Total Bellas episode 5: Bella Family Secrets recap

By

W-O Staff

-

11/04/2016

It looks like the number of people staying at John Cena’s house just keeps going down as the weeks progress on Total Bellas.

Last week, Daniel Bryan chose to leave the house because of his mental health. This week, Brie decided that she couldn’t leave her husband in on his own. I agree that when your husband is suffering a severe mental health crisis you have the right to, and should leave your rapidly healing sister to fend for herself; especially because she still had her mother and brother to look after her. Besides, Nikki couldn’t have been doing that badly since she was well enough to join Kathy and several of her friends for Kathy’s bachelorette weekend in Naples, Florida.

While in Naples, Nikki and her friends tried to encourage Kathy show off her body in a bathing suit. While I agree that every woman no matter her age should feel confident about her own body, I think that Nikki and her friends were being a tad hard on Kathy. Everyone has their own comfort level when it comes to personal appearance and all of Kathy’s family should learn to respect that.

Another thing that made me annoyed with Nikki, Kathy, and the rest of the bachelorette party attendees was their inability to refrain from discussing Brie and Bryan’s relationship when they were not there to defend themselves. They also, should not have criticized Brie’s choice to go home and take care of Bryan.

Meanwhile, back in Phoenix, Brie and Bryan continued to see an endless round of specialists in order to try and make Bryan’s dream of returning to the ring a reality. However, the specialists did not seem to think that Bryan’s return to full-time wrestling was best for his physical health. This caused Bryan to feel an increasing degree of depression and despondency.

Brie continued to feel more and more helpless as she watched her husband’s mental state deteriorate before her very eyes. In addition, Brie was dealing with the ending of her own career as she helped Bryan deal with the end of his. Brie confided to Lauren, JJ’s wife, that she was having difficulty enjoying watching the culmination of everything that she had worked so hard for while her husband was suffering so deeply.

Back in Florida, Nikki was having troubles with the man in her life as well. John has become increasingly irritated with Nikki’s dog Winston. It seems that John doesn’t appreciate having the responsibility for Winston’s care shifted to himself when Nikki decides to go traveling away from the dog. I completely agree with John stance on this one, if the dog was Nikki’s before they got together and she promised to have total responsibility for his care, then she shouldn’t expect John to be overjoyed when she leaves dog sitting duties to him while she travels.

I also appreciated JJ’s insights into his sister. Perhaps, JJ maintained, Nikki was hoping that leaving puppy care to John would make him feel more more favorably toward the idea of having human babies. But, the whole Bella family had far more to worry about than John’s aversion to parenting.

It seems that Kathy has been keeping an important secret from her loved ones; a secret that her fiancé John didn’t feel should be kept from her children until after their impending nuptials. I am sad to report, that the mom of the Bella clan found lumps on her breasts weeks prior to the start of filming of “Total Bellas”.

Furthermore, up until this point Kathy had not done anything about the discovered lumps. She had not gone to the doctor in order to discover whether or not the lumps were malignant, or even informed her children of their existence. While generally I think that everyone should have the right to see to their own medical problems in a way in which they see fit, I have to agree with John Laurinaitis when he said, “I would want to know if it was my mom.”

Of course, the Bella children were incensed that their mother had kept a secret from them, and insisted that she go to have her breasts examined immediately, just hours before her wedding to John. We will have to wait until next week to know the results for certain the let’s just say it doesn’t look good. See you next week WWE Universe.

Main events for TLC and Roadblock pay-per-views announced

By

Colin Vassallo

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11/04/2016

The main events for both the Smackdown-only TLC pay-per-view and the Raw-only Roadblock pay-per-view have been announced.

As revealed this past Tuesday on Talking Smack, the WWE World Heavyweight title will be on the line as AJ Styles will defend the gold against Dean Ambrose in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match.

And just today, the Twitter account for the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – the site of Roadblock – announced that WWE Universal champion Kevin Owens will be taking on the United States champion Roman Reigns. The match has not been announced by WWE yet so it looks like the social media team for PPG Paints Arena have jumped the gun.

TLC takes place on December 4 while Roadblock takes place on December 18.

War of words between Billy Corgan and Anthem/TNA continues

By

Colin Vassallo

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11/04/2016

The war of words between Billy Corgan and Anthem Sports & Entertainment continues, with Corgan telling Anthem that their statement on Twitter about rejecting his statement was a terrible way to start their “future relationship.”

Anthem blasted Corgan for putting out in public certain information and Corgan said that Anthem was the one who issued the press release announcing more information from a lawsuit which is still pending and questioned if that is not public disclosure.

Today, the now former TNA President said that the company actually owes him $2.7 million. He said that the excuse TNA used for not paying him by November 1 was that they didn’t know where to find him.

“If I’m not repaid today in full and without conditions attached, I’ll be forced to once more pursue remedy by taking TNA stock via court,” Corgan wrote on Twitter. He said the attorney for Anthem stood up in court and told the judge they were ready to pay him off and even fund TNA but that has not happened yet. An article on the NY Post quoted a TNA source saying that TNA will pay back Corgan when he asks for his money back.

“Last thing: despite being called a lender by every arm of TNA propaganda I can still convert to 36% stock or sell option to highest bidder,” Corgan warned. “And that ‘option’ if you will to convert my boo-hoo-hoo loan to 36% stock or auction it off to a PW titan doesn’t require a court order.” Corgan was obviously referring to WWE with the pro wrestling titan remark, the company that TNA denied they were in negotiations with when Corgan asked but ended up being true as revealed in court.

Total Bellas season 1 episode 5 rating

By

Colin Vassallo

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11/03/2016

Episode five of Total Bellas, titled Bella Family Secrets, did a total of 536,000 viewers, down 94,000 viewers from last week and the lowest of the series so far. All of television got mauled thanks to the MLB World Series final game which drew over 40 million viewers on FOX. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)